


5 times Mattie had her cat and the first time she didn't

by orphan_account



Category: We Are The Tigers - Allen
Genre: 5+1 Things, Angst, Drunkenness, Fluff and Angst, Light Angst, Murder, Peer Pressure, Pets, Sick Character, Sickfic, Underage Drinking, as much as should be expected when one gets framed for murder, mattie has a cat, shes also sick at one point ig, thats it thats the fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:28:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28395375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Mattie had always wanted a cat. She wanted one so much, that one year she wrote several essays about the benefits of having a cat. She was seven.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 15





	5 times Mattie had her cat and the first time she didn't

**Author's Note:**

> so some are longer than others, she is sick at one point so i would skip 4 if thats a trigger!

**1-**

Mattie had always wanted a cat. She wanted one so much, that one year she wrote several essays about the benefits of having a cat. She was seven.

She remembered how her mother would laugh and pat her hair. “Maybe next year, Matt.” She would say, her voice warm and happy. Of course that cat wouldn’t come the next year. Or the year after that. Or the year after that.

It actually took Mattie another four years to convince her parents to buy her a cat. “A freshmen year present!” Her dad had called it, holding a shaking box in his hands. Mattie didn’t open the box for another ten minutes, too busy with running around and thanking her parents until her face was blue. Her mother finally managed to get Mattie to sit down and open the box. When she did, a tiny ball of fur rolled out.

It was a black kitten, their eyes were blue, and they had a little white patch over their left eye. Mattie went still as the cat padded over her lap, mewing quietly. Her hands hovered above the tiny body that was now her responsibility.  _ God she had a child now _ .

She looked hesitantly up at her parents, they both nodded encouragingly. Hesitantly, Mattie moved her hand to the kitten, but stopped again as they plopped down on her lap and looked up at her with their wide, innocent eyes.

She squeaked quietly and felt pure joy rise up in her chest as she blinked at her kitten. The kitten blinked back and sat up, connecting their head to Mattie’s hand. She gasped at the contact. Fur slipped through the gaps in her fingers as she scratched behind their ear. They started to purr happily.

“What are you going to name her, Matt?” Her mother asked, looking down at the pair, Mattie noticed her eyes were lit up and she was smiling.

She then thought about it. First of all, she didn’t want to look at their... body parts… to know what gender she was going to use, so she quickly decided on using ‘they’, not wanting to hurt the kitten’s feelings. Secondly, her mother knew exactly what name she was going to pick out, she’d had this name chosen since her first essay. “I’m going to call them Apollo!” She said, grinning ear to ear.

**2-**

Apollo liked to sleep on Mattie’s face. She didn’t mind at first, they were only a small baby after all. But when they started to grow, and put on more weight, it became more of a problem. She had saved up for a bed for them, but of course they never actually slept in it. Still preferring the warmth of her face. One night, she woke up and was being choked by Apollo’s tail. She tried to scream and only ended up with it lodged further down her throat. In a fit of panic, she threw Apollo off her face, gasping as they and their tail went flying onto the floor, leaving her to splutter and cough in her bed.

When she recovered, she looked for Apollo and found them sitting right by her feet, completely unfazed by the last five minutes. Mattie giggled and picked them up. She sat against her headboard and let Apollo sit on her lap. Luckily they fell asleep quite quickly and Mattie was able to lay down next to them. However she decided to do something about it the next day, not wanting to risk her life for Apollo no matter how much she loved them.

The next morning, Mattie clambered out of bed (going slowly as not to disturb Apollo) and gently picked them up. Luckily, Apollo was a heavy sleeper and Mattie could move them without much trouble. She padded across her room and put them in their bed. She’d made sure to get the most comfortable looking one, so she wasn’t sure why they still didn’t want to sleep in there. They stayed in there, and Mattie smiled in triumph. However as she backed away, she heard Apollo yawn. She sighed as she turned around, not even making it halfway back to her bed before they woke up. They came running towards her, a look of betrayal in their eyes. Mattie frowned and picked up the giant ball of fluff and decided it was best to take them downstairs with her.

When she got downstairs, she put Apollo down and let them roam around the house. Sleepily, she shuffled into the kitchen to get a cup of orange juice. Her dad was already in there, the newspaper in his hands. “Morning!” She yawned as she pulled a cup out of the cupboard.

“Mattie, darling, did something happen last night? We heard a lot of coughing.” Her dad said, peering over the top of his paper.

Mattie tried not to giggle at the sight as she explained herself, “They fell asleep on my face again. Apollo’s tail got stuck in my throat.” She said, a red blush creeping up her neck as she spoke, finding it to be quite an embarrassing story to tell.

“You… You choked on your cat’s tail?” Her dad asked, trying (and failing) to hold in a laugh. Mattie nodded again, her face turning more red by the second.

**3-**

Apollo had developed a very annoying habit of scratching at Mattie’s bed post. She didn’t realise the full extent of it at first, only really getting annoyed when they did it in the middle of the night. In fact, she didn’t know that cats could claw right through a solid wood post and make her bed break. Until it happened.

It was a Friday night, nothing out of the ordinary. She’d done her summer homework, played a family game of monopoly and had dinner. Everything seemed okay as she washed her face, changed into her pyjamas and got Apollo settled down (of course they were never fully tired until Mattie was in bed).

Her bed was quite a way off the floor, so she needed to hop up slightly, that time was no different. Until a loud  _ SNAP _ echoed through the house and her bed tilted, throwing her off. Mattie gasped as she hit the floor. She felt tears pool in her eyes. Not because she was hurt, but more out of the pure shock.

She lay there for a few minutes, sniffling and forcing the tears back. Gosh she wasn’t going to cry over this, she wasn’t a baby anymore (she was almost in high school for God’s sake!). Apollo came padding over, their presence calming to Mattie. They licked her cheek and sat down next to her. Staring up at the ceiling, she tried to not think about how angry her parents would be at the sight of her broken bed.

She knew she should get up and assess the damage, but she really didn’t want to. In fact, she wanted the ground to swallow her up then and there so she didn’t have to face her parents.

“Mattie?” Her mother’s voice called from downstairs.

_ Too late _ . She thought to herself as she slowly got up. Mattie purposely kept her eyes away from her bed as she walked to the door. Brushing away the last of her tears she opened it and called down: “Yeah?” She asked, trying her best to sound casual.

“Are you alright my love?” Her mother asked, her voice getting closer.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine!” Mattie replied, throwing a quick glance at the bed.

“Did something break?” She wasn’t shouting now since she stood just a few steps away from Mattie’s room.

Mattie looked down, a blush forcing its way up her face. Wow she really needed to get better at lying, she noted as she fiddled with a loose thread on her shirt. “My bed.” She whispered, looking firmly at the ground.

“Can I look?” Her mother’s voice was gently, no sign of the anger Mattie expected. Surprised, Mattie nodded and stepped away from the door. Apollo looped through her legs as she stood on the landing, before following her mother in.

Her mother crouched down by her bed and Mattie took the chance to really look at the issue. It didn’t take her long to see that half the leg had been snapped off. She frowned and stepped closer, faintly she could see a few scratches around the area, but as she got closer to the break it looked as if someone had taken a knife to the wood and started whittling. The two sat in silence for a minute, both coming to the same conclusion: Apollo.

“Well, that’s new.” Her mother laughed and looked over to Apollo (who had now curled up on their bed). Mattie laughed too, she wasn’t sure what was funny but she didn’t want to pay for her new bed so she went along with it.

“What do I do about it?” Mattie asked once their laughter had died down.

Her mother stood up and smiled gently. “You’ll have to sleep on the floor tonight, I’m afraid.” She said, leaning down to kiss Mattie’s forehead. “But we’ll order you a new one tomorrow.”

“Do I have to pay for it?” She asked quietly, looking down.

“Oh Honey, of course not! It was that stupid cat that broke it not you.” Her mother said, hugging Matte tightly before stepping away. She moved to leave but before she left, she turned back. “Goodnight Matt.”

“Apollo isn’t stupid.” Mattie whispered as her mother left the room.

And that was the end of that.

**4-**

Mattie was sick. She hated being sick. Her parents made her stay in bed all day and banned her from screens. That didn’t really make sense because scrolling through instagram didn’t give her food poisoning (no that was her dad’s awful cooking). But she decided to not argue because the second she showed any sign of strength, she would be deemed healthy again and have to take out the trash; she really didn’t want to move today. So she stayed in bed, sleeping and staring at the ceiling.

It wasn’t all that bad, sure she couldn’t do anything and was throwing up every five minutes but it could be worse. She could be in jail or something.

Her parents took it in turns to come and see her, check her temperature and feed her some soup. It would be another hour before her Dad came up, so Mattie had some time to kill. She’d tried to sleep through it but she’d slept on and off for almost ten hours now she didn’t think she could anymore.

She wished Apollo was there, but they’d gone for a walk a few hours ago and hadn’t come back yet. Mattie wasn’t worried, Apollo was never gone for more than six hours at a time. So they were bound to be back soon. Hopefully within the next ten minutes before Mattie went insane.

Not even five minutes later she heard a bell jingle over by her window. Apollo was lucky it was a sunny day so the window was left open. Mattie watched as they graciously jumped onto the floor and made their way over to her. She smiled weakly as they leapt onto her bed. With a shaking arm, she held up her covers and made a small space for Apollo to slip into. Once they had made themself comfortable, Mattie put her arm down again. Apollo purred quietly as Mattie pressed her face into their fur.

It was relaxing. It made her forget about the awful pain in her stomach and the sweat that caused her clothes to cling to her skin. “Y'know, ‘Pollo,'' Mattie whispered, her voice thick with sleep. “I think you’re the best cat ever.” She finished and kissed their fur weakly. They quietly  _ meow _ -ed in response and started purring again.

She wasn’t awake for much longer after that.

**5-**

In a few hours time, she was leaving for that sleepover. There was an awful feeling that tugged her gut every time she thought about it. She was sitting on the couch, her bag next to her. Her phone was tightly held in one hand, but she never even looked down at it when each notification came through. She’d been added to the team group chat, but had hardly held a conversation with them. They all seemed quite… full-on. For example, there were two girls (Farrah and Chess?) who were always fighting, blaming each other for a fall. Then there was Riley (the captain). She was sweet but a lot. She was extremely enthusiastic about cheer, it almost seemed forced.

Her phone pinged again and she glanced down to see it was another message from the group.  **‘Well maybe if you came to practices sober you wouldn’t have dropped me!’** Ah, they were fighting again. Mattie sighed heavily and threw her phone across the couch. It landed on a pillow but slid off and dropped to the floor with a  _ thud _ .

She stared at it as the thought to pick it up crossed her mind.  _ I could, but I really don’t want to. _ She thought to herself as she kept looking at the dark screen.

A weight on her lap seemed to take her away from her thoughts. She looked away from her phone and down at the large mass of fur on her lap. She smiled gently and started to run her fingers across Apollo. She wasn’t sure how they did it, but they always seemed to know how she was feeling and when she needed comfort.

She sat there, listening to the purrs of Apollo and relaxed, pushing all thoughts of the sleepover out of her mind.

**+1-**

The world was spinning. People were talking but it was all muffled to her. Lights were flashing and they hurt her eyes so much. But she just sat there. On the steps of Riley’s house. Covered in blood. But she didn’t think about that. In fact she wasn’t sure she was thinking at all. She just stared ahead, not listening, not feeling, not talking. She wasn’t really seeing much either. Just red and blue, flashing.

Mattie waited for something to happen. Either for a gentle paw to tap her nose, or a ball of fur curl up on her lap. But nothing came. Apollo wasn’t here. They were at home, almost as unaware as Mattie was.

She tried to focus, pull herself out of this trance, but she couldn’t. Her mind felt foggy, she felt foreign to herself. She tried to think back, to remember what was going on, what she was doing. But her last clear memory was standing in a crowded basement with a bottle to her lips. The burn of the liquid as it was practically forced into her. How it made her head swim. But then there was nothing.

What was going on? Why was she sitting here? Wait, where was Apollo? She looked around, her mind slow but her body slower. Each movement felt like she was chained to a heavy boulder. “Apollo?” She whispered weakly, her voice hoarse. When they didn’t come, she called again. “Apollo?”

They weren’t coming! Why weren’t they coming? She shot up, moving faster than she had all night, her eyes wild as she looked for her cat. “Apollo?” She cried. Her brain was no longer foggy, she needed to find Apollo. She was safe with Apollo.

A heavy weight fell on her shoulder, but she pushed it off and slowly turned around. She had to find them. She had too! “Miss Wheeler, you need to sit down.” A gruff voice told her.

Mattie stared up at the man. Who was he? Was he important? Did he know her? “Have you seen Apollo?” She asked him.

“Miss Wheeler, you’re under arrest please sit down.” He told her, his eyes empty.

Under arrest? But she hadn’t done anything. She shook her head and asked again. “Have you seen Apollo?”

“Ma’am you’re not in the right frame of mind. Now sit down so we can cuff you.” His voice was rising. What had she done wrong?

“No, no I need Apollo!” She said, her words getting slurred.

This time the man didn’t respond, he just grabbed her. He roughly took her hands and pulled them behind her back. Mattie didn’t quite understand until there was a cool sensation on her wrists and the subtle click of handcuffs.

Horror filled her face as the realisation hit her. She  _ had _ done something. Something bad. For the first time, she looked down at herself and saw her blue shirt covered in red. Blood. There was blood on her. She shook as she looked around, for any sign of the other girls. Surely they knew this was a lie. She hadn’t done anything. There was no way.

Right?

All thoughts of Apollo were pushed out of her head as she scanned the lawn for anyone. She spotted them, all standing in the doorway. They were all looking at her. As she scanned the faces, she noticed two people were missing. The two girls that were always arguing.

Her mind had started getting foggy again. She knew she was crying. That she was shouting to them. Pleading her innocence to the police. But no one seemed to care. They all just looked at her with a mix of disgust and pity.

“Come now Miss Wheeler, into the car.” When did she get pulled away?

She didn’t remember much after that. All she knew for sure was that Apollo wasn’t there and it wasn’t going to be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> if you enjoyed, please leave a comment!!


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